Less a ‘GAA thing’ and more a football thing

In the ever-improving as well as ever-expanding genre that is the GAA autobiography, every new entry tends to have a hook to draw the floating reader in.

Oisín McConville and Cathal McCarron wrote vividly about their gambling problems; former Dublin sub goalkeeper John Leonard about his alcohol and drug issues in the wake of being the victim of clerical abuse.

Kieran Donaghy opened up about his troubled father; Philly McMahon his troubled brother; Jason Sherlock on his crisis of identity growing up in a homogenous Ireland, and later the private torment of never winning a second All-Ireland medal as a player.